Joe Dirt's '97 XLT "Shamrock"

Ok all, so now that Snowball is gone to the retirement home (heated pole barn up north) I'm going to be rollin' in Shamrock, my new virtually rust-free '97 V8. Since the ad was placed by the previous owner on CriagsList on St. Patrick's Day and purchased the day after, I thought it only fitting to pick that name.

So here are some pics of her just washed, nothing else done... Not bad for what I shelled out for her!

As you can see, she needs to be cleaned right good like... But I'm going to tear everything out, powerwash the carpet, and everything else as I did on Snowball.

Right now current plans are putting on some stock running boards, swapping the blue interior lights to factory green, Dropping in a Pioneer deck, new leather wheel, new(er) rear bumper (dent), maybe black '97 windows, new headlights/fogs, paint the pillar trims, grabbing the rotary to start polishing, and fixing some nitpick things- roof rack, A/C recharge, CV axles... Yada yada...

More to come!

 

[Super_Swamper_98]

Heeeeere's Johnny!

CLICK ME
[/IMG]

It all makes sence now! Nice ex by the way looks real clean.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Ok, so today was wrenchin' day at my buddy's shop.

New upper control arms (one about ready to pop off), ball joints, both new cv axles (one was junk), wheel bearings (one was junk), rotors, brakes, and new lower idler pulley, and new tensioner pulley.

 

[97sprt4x4]

Wow... nice upgrades. I still need to replace the passenger side CV... i'm a little scared... is it harder then replacing the hub?

Keep it up, should last you forever if you take as good care of this one as snowball.

Justin

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

keep up the good work

 

[Joe Dirt]

Wow... nice upgrades. I still need to replace the passenger side CV... i'm a little scared... is it harder then replacing the hub?

Keep it up, should last you forever if you take as good care of this one as snowball.

Justin

Nah- once you pop it loose the CV just slides out. We did both sides in about 3 hours with a trip to Culvers in between.

 

[Glen4X4]

I missed this but congratulations on the new truck it looks like you got a good deal. It looks good.

 

[williams.cory]

Yes congrats on the new truck! There is no rust anywhere!!

So how is it moving up to a V8? I know stock for stock the SOHC 4.0 will beat a V8 in a drag race, but you had the OHV so you should see a good difference. I hope it holds up well for you. Mine sure has, has over 225k now (bought with 204k)and I've really run this thing hard, rarely go a day without seeing some redline action! LMAO! It can become addicting, especially the nice sound at WOT around 3k RPM. Hell I know its not the most powerful thing there is, but it has just enough to make it a fun ride.

Anyways man, what a great find! Are you gonna do the manual shift 4406 t-case swap?? You should!! Better MPG's and powaaa , yeah buddy! 100% worth the time and effort!

 

[BrianDye]

So how is it moving up to a V8? IBetter MPG's and powaaa , yeah buddy! 100% worth the time and effort!

X2 man, whats it like going from a V6 to V8?

 

[Joe Dirt]

It's a huge difference, but I went from the OHV to the V8. From what I remember, the SOHC's I had weren't too far off the V8, but it sounds much nicer when you're getting her rolling... I'm an ex-Mustang guy, so it makes me smile...

 

[BrianDye]

Makes me want one

Hows the gas mileage though? If its worse than my 4.0 then I will never ever ever want one haha

 

[williams.cory]

If its worse than my 4.0 then I will never ever ever want one haha

Dude you sissy!! :: LOL

Its really not that bad, 2-3 MPG's different...But now that I'm not AWD anymore I gained a MPG or 2. I rarely drive easy and average around 16-17 MPG, 15 with AWD. When I buy a vehicle I'm more focused on what drivetrain it has rather than MPG's...But hey I got bragging rights to saying I got a five oh!!

Hey Joe, are you gonna paint the inside of the grill?? Painted mine black and it looks a million times better!! Blue would look pretty good!

 

[Joe Dirt]

MPG's for me are 1MPG better than my OHV was, I'm getting 16 with 3 fillups now. I'm going to do plugs and wires, so that could help too.

If I do anything with the grille, it will be the darker gray that was stock on the '98+ I'm not much for spraypainting stuff non-factory, I'm more of a "clean stock" guy.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Lookin good Dirt! I like the paintwork on the pillars etc, let us know how it holds up. After 15 years mine is starting to dull.

 

[celly]

If I do anything with the grille, it will be the darker gray that was stock on the '98+ I'm not much for spraypainting stuff non-factory, I'm more of a "clean stock" guy.

That's what I did last summer. I scored a '96 grille which in way better shape than any '99-01 I could find at the time. I wanted something that would look better with the powdercoating Jon did to my Speed Grille and the stock grille just didn't look right as is.

 

[Joe Dirt]

So I kept working today, I started by swapping my old dented bumper...

for a nice shiny undented one...

I just realized that I didn't take a pic of the new one, and I can't now- reason coming...

I also mounted my running boards. Rockers were good, only one decent sized rust spot, in the back, but totally fixable which I did with some Rust Bullet, primer, Deep Jewel Green and Clearcoat. You know, make it pretty since you'll never see it. Ha ha!

I went to go work out, which is really pointless- my hands ache from handling sharp Craftsman socket wrenches, and stuff. Ow.

Anyway, I also put in my new (to me) headlight to get rid of the passenger side fog-o-rama, undercoated the areas behind the grille, and put on the '98+ mesh backer for the grille.

I pulled the driver's seat to replace the busted off handle, and saw this left behind: What the heck is leaking out of the rear cupholder? I refuse to open it, that's gross. Fricken' gross.

Fork that- I couldn't take it anymore.

34 minutes later:

Carpet cleaning tomorrow, it's going to be nice and hot here, so I can let it dry outside for a while. Should be great.

The carpet- OMG...

But hey- it's about as bad as the carpet was in my '99 SHO when I got it:

...and it came out great after $8 in change at the quarter wash...

OK, maybe it's quite a bit worse than the SHO carpet, but for sure I'll give it a shot before I buy a new carpet... Now I just need to bolt in my lawn chair.

I was bummed though- After all that I only found $1.18 and a crochet hook. :thumbdwn:

 

[vroomzoomboom]

You know you have a small disorder when.......^^^^
just kidding joe. I'm almost wondering now if I should pull the carpet from evil ans give it the power washing. Hmmmm.....

 

[Joe Dirt]

I'm completely OCD about my vehicles...

It's not bad at all. In fact, it's <internal computing> 29 bolts/nuts to remove to pull your seats, console, and carpets out. (Oh- and 4 pushpins, 4 rubber caps, and 2 stupid-a$$ed plastic torx bit covers on the seatbelt bolt covers)

In fact- here is all of the hardware for pulling your seats, console, and carpets neatly arranged so I don't lose anything... (Minus the 4 pushpins, They're in a bag on my detailing cart cuz my fan blows them off on the floor...)

The first time is always the worst, since the bolts tend to rust in place if they go through the floorboards since they're exposed to the weather. Once they're out, PB Blaster them and they'll come out nice and easy next time. Yes, OCD Dirt will be wire wheeling those bolts clean... Ha ha!

...yes, I just said next time- see? I said I was OCD...

 

[BrianDye]

How dare you! Take that cart back to Krogers right meow! : (It looks like the small carts we have at work lol)

 

[Blazepet7]

Great find Joe and for the money you got a steal now you got me into taking out my carpets and blasting them and seeing what ive got hidden under there. if theres one thing im OCD about its my cars also, your not alone...what the hell is a crotchet hook or do i not wanna know...lol, im also gunna hit up the Trim and wipers with some paint, thanks for the spring cleanup ideas...the V8 sound badass too

 

[BrianDye]

Damnit ive been not wanting to rip my carpet out but seeing how it looked from the pic of your Taurus really makes me wanna do mine.

How long does it take you in general to get everything out to get the carpet out?